(.net) technology and society

July 29, 2006

Top 5 Best Practices for Disaster Relief

Hurricane Katrina relief veterans Grace Davis and Sara Ford were joined by tsunami aid activist Dina Mehta in discussing best practices for bloggers delivering tangible aid to communities in need. each of these speakers brought a different perspective:

MumbaiHelps was intended to be a repository of information - where to go for financial
aid, medical help, etc. - rather than a formal organization with the capacity to reach out on the ground. The Hurricane Katrina Direct Relief
blog, on the other hand, was designed to support people who wanted to
help those in need. Finally, Ford (a Microsoft program manager, and
Louisiana native) drove outreach through her own blog, taking advantage
of the credibility that she had already developed as a blogger to speak
out and drive people into taking action. Based on the speakers'
experiences, these best practices floated to the top:Top Five Best Practices

Help the helpers. Davis made the conscious decision to not
help people in need directly. Though it was a tough decision, this
one-dimensionality helped to keep efforts focused and impactful.

Plan to get scammers. Blogging about a disaster will elicit
spam submissions for relief. Davis needed to get the story, find out
exactly what help they needed, and then verify the situation. Church
ladies across the south volunteered to support this task. Mehta's group
posted a disclaimer reminding wiki users that none of the information
had been verified.

Get rid of your PayPal button. Davis' blog operated through
mothers instead. She found that having an active solicitation button
had a negative impact on credibility - made them look like a phishing
site or other donation scam. Mehta had the same experience. Ford, on
the other hand, had reasonable acceptance given the prexisting
credibility of her blog.

Tell the story. HKDR told poignant stories that weren't
appearing in the traditional news media. Davis posted a lot of pictures
to both share the situation on the ground and to show donors exactly
what they were addressing. Ford, on the other hand, had many requests
for photos of what the town looked like before the devastation
occurred. Emergency workers needed this context in order to make sense
of the piles of debris, to see where the streets were supposed to be
within a miles-wide junkyard.

Facilitate one-on-one connections. Most rescuees will need
financial and logistical assistance. Many will also ask for counseling
that speaks to their specific situation, and even receiving needed
relief can bring up post-traumatic stress. A related point here is to
sustain the original context for how and why you got involved as a
blogger - over
time, it's easy for new readers to come in and not understand your
history of involvement.

Miscellaneous Practical Tips

Keep focused on what you can handle. Mehta, for example, found that the
daily updates on her blog ended up turning into a directory of
survivor sites. The needs were overwhelming, and so managing the
redirection instead was more effective.

Don't accept clothing, unless you have very specific needs - you
will get more than you can handle. Medical supplies are much better.

Be mindful of the survivor's own experience. It's humbling to be on
the receiving end of soup kitchen, and everyone has to go through it
when the closest open grocery store is three hours away.

You need people on the ground in order to get
current information.

Two major categories of resource information are essential: help offered vs. help
needed.

Promising Ideas

During open discussion, there were some great audience ideas on how bloggers can contribute to disaster relief:

Ham radio operator clubs have periodic field days, in which they pack
up their gear and generators, and practice how they'd work in a
disaster. Why not have a blogging field day, that would enable bloggers
to work on how they'd be able to help in case of disaster?

Bloggers could connect with clubs of many useful stripes - ham
radio, off-road driving, etc. - to form collaborative relationships
that deliver more effective impact in case of emergency.

Comments

Top 5 Best Practices for Disaster Relief

Hurricane Katrina relief veterans Grace Davis and Sara Ford were joined by tsunami aid activist Dina Mehta in discussing best practices for bloggers delivering tangible aid to communities in need. each of these speakers brought a different perspective: